Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Raised to “Buy” at Citigroup

Citigroup upgraded shares of Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) from a sell rating to a buy rating in a research note released on Monday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have $68.00 target price on the communications equipment provider’s stock, up from their previous target price of $44.00.

CIEN has been the subject of several other reports. Needham & Company LLC reissued a buy rating and set a $65.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Ciena from $55.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Bank of America reiterated a neutral rating and issued a $59.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price objective on shares of Ciena from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Ciena from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $61.00.

Ciena Stock Up 1.5 %

CIEN stock opened at $61.42 on Monday. Ciena has a 1-year low of $39.94 and a 1-year high of $63.24. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $53.31 and its 200 day simple moving average is $49.87. The company has a current ratio of 4.06, a quick ratio of 2.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.87 billion, a PE ratio of 59.06, a PEG ratio of 7.93 and a beta of 0.94.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.09. Ciena had a net margin of 3.44% and a return on equity of 5.98%. The company had revenue of $942.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $928.31 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.36 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Ciena will post 1.15 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ciena news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,712 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.29, for a total value of $130,962.48. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 96,000 shares in the company, valued at $4,635,840. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.24, for a total value of $196,840.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 205,421 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,552,877.04. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,712 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.29, for a total value of $130,962.48. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 96,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,635,840. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 9,712 shares of company stock worth $498,637 in the last ninety days. 0.83% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ciena

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CIEN. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC raised its holdings in Ciena by 119.9% in the 2nd quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 5,397,560 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $260,054,000 after buying an additional 2,943,146 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 29.1% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 3,513,633 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $158,149,000 after purchasing an additional 791,215 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Ciena by 24.0% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,706,308 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $130,392,000 after purchasing an additional 523,313 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in Ciena by 1,944.4% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,062,394 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $101,986,000 after purchasing an additional 1,961,513 shares during the period. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in Ciena by 17.2% during the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,049,464 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $98,743,000 after purchasing an additional 301,390 shares during the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ciena Company Profile

Ciena Corporation provides hardware and software services for delivery of video, data, and voice traffic metro, aggregation, and access communications network worldwide. The company's Networking Platforms segment offers convergence of coherent optical transport, open optical networking, optical transport network switching, IP routing, and switching services.